CIAT has sent its third consignment of seeds from its gene bank in Colombia, to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

The Global Seed Vault, buried in permafrost near the North Pole, safeguards material from gene banks from all over the world.

In this 3-minute digital story, CIAT's Genetic Resources Program leader Daniel Debouck likens the process of duplication and storage in a separate locations to "backing up your hard disk." He talks about the center's work to store, protect and conserve plant genetic material for the benefit of current and future generations.

To find out more, and to see the team preparing the latest shipment, click the video screen. If you have difficulty viewing the video here, try the direct link to Blip TV.

Scripts in English and Spanish will follow soon, here on the CIAT blog.